Card storage and feeding device



2 Sheets-Sheet l l sv. ma

A. W. KUTCHERA CARD STORAGE AND FEEDNG DEVICE Oct. 18, 1966 Original Filed April 25, 1962 A. w. KUTCHERA 3,279,789

CARD STORAGE AND FEEDING DEVICE Original Filed April 25. 1962 Oct. 18, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent C) 3,279,789 CARD STORAGE AND FEEDING DEVICE. Arthur W. Kutchera, White Bear Lake, Minn., asslgnor to Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, St. Paul, Minn., a corporation of Delaware Original application Apr. 25, 1962, Ser. No. 190,062, now Patent No. 3,233,532, dated Feb. 8, 1966. Divided and this application Apr. 15, 1965, Ser. No. 448,350 3 Claims. (Cl. 271-39) This application is a division of copending application Serial No. 190,062, filed April 25, 1962, and now U.S. Patent No. 3,233,532.

This invention relates to a novel card feeding device and in one aspect to a device for feeding cards singly from a storage magazine containing a stack of such cards.

The present invention provides an improved card storage magazine and card feeding mechanism.

The device of thte present invention has the advantage of being capable of feeding record or tabulating cards, such as used for information storage and retrieval, even though such cards may be warped when placed in the storage magazine.

The improved lfeeding device comprises a supporting base having a planar main section and an upwardly inclined forward edge portion, means for forcing a stack of cards, or other sheet material to be dispensed, into alignment with the supporting base, means for restricting all but a bottom one of said cards from being advanced forwardly along said base, and means for advancing the bottom card forwardly along the base.

These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent as the following description proceeds, and the accompanying drawings are referred to, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the magazine and card feeding assembly; and

FIGURE 2 is `an elevational view of the magazine assembly.

Referring now to the drawing, the card magazine M is mounted on a support plate 25 with a portion thereof fitted through an opening 25a formed in said plate. The magazine M comprises an outer frame structure 45 and an inner card supporting frame 46. The outer frame includes an inclined bottom plate 47 which has secured thereto a pair of vertical inwardly set spaced parallel plates 48 and 49. The plates 48 and 49 have upward projections 48a and 49a, at the forward end thereof, and the louter frame 45 also includes a front plate 50. A top plate 55 and a rear plate 51 form a box-like enclosure with projections 48a and 49a and front plate 50. The plates 47, 50, 51 52 and 55 extend transversely outwardly beyond the plates 48 and 49 and are joined to a pair of vertical side plates 53 and 54 to complete the outer frame structure 45.

Within the frame 45 an inverted U-shaped member 56 has leg portions 56a and 56b afiixed to and overlying the inner surfaces of the plates 48 and 49, the bight portion of said member being secured to the rear plate 51 within the box-like enclosure aforementioned.

The inner frame 46 is adapted to store therein a supply of aperture cards 40 bearing unexpose-d light sensitive film sections. The frame 46 takes the form of an open-ended rectangular tubular member comprising a top plate 57, a bottom planar plate 58 and side plates 59 and 60. The side plates 59 and 60 have transversely outwardly oppositely bent anges 59a and 60a, respectively, at their forward ends, said flanges being secured by any suitable fastening means to the aforementioned legs 56a and 56h, respectively. The inner frame 46 is inclined as best shown in FIGURE 2 for a purpose which will apice pear hereinafter, and when a supply of cards is inserted thereinto, said cards are moved forwardly therein until they abut the front wall or plate 50. A small supply of cards 40 is shown stored in the frame 46 in FIGURE 2. The cards are preferably supplied in a suitable light tight carton (not shown) which is so constructed that upon insertion of the cards into said container 46 the carton closes the outer end of the frame 46. Alternatively, the frame 46 could be provided with a light tight removable end plate (not shown) at the rear end thereof.

The plate 58 and a transverse plate 62 form a supporting base for the cards 40. The transverse plate 62 has a highly polished upper surface and is secured to the bottom portion of the plates 48 and 49 at the forward end thereof #and is positioned horizontally in front of the card supporting frame 46. This plate, positioned as shown in FIGURE 2, causes the leading end lof the card to be transversely crimped lor bent slightly across said end in a manner to insure that the forward edge thereof is lying fiat on the plate 62. The 4slight bend placed in the inclined card flattens the leading edge even on cards which are normally warped. As an aid to placing this slight transverse bend in the cards, a weight 63 is positioned vertically above the plate 62. The weight 63 is formed with vertically extending slots in the end portions thereof through which extend vertically disposed rods 64 and 65. The rods 64 and 65 serve as guides and allow the Weight to move vertically within the frame 45. The rods 64 and 65 are retained in position by blocks 64a and 65a at the upper ends thereof and by bores formed in the plate 62 or by other means (not shown) at their lower ends.

The weight 63 is movable vertically on the rods 64 and 65 by a pair of small cables 66 and 67. The cables 66 and 67 are secured to opposite ends of a handle 68, slidable vertically on the rear end portions of plates 48 and 49. The handle 68 is formed with end portions 69 and 70 having inwardly facing projections riding in grooves 71 and 72 formed in the plates 48 and 49. The cables 66 and 67 extend from the handle 68 upward around pulleys 73, pulleys 74 and pulleys 74a rotatably mounted on the plates 48 and 49, and down to outwardly extending pins 75 and 76 fixed to opposite transverse ends of the weight 63. The pins 75 and 76 project through vertically extending slotted openings in the plates 48 and 49 and have set screws therein which bind the cables passing downwardly through said pins thus fixing the cables thereto. The cables 66 and 67 then pass around pulleys 77, rotatably mounted on the lower forward portions of the plates 48 and 49, and are connected at their ends to one end of a set of tension springs 78. The tension springs 78 are fixed at their opposite ends to the plates 48 and 49 and serve to urge the weight downward when the frame 46 is filled with a supply of cards 40, thus aiding to insure that the desired pressure is applied to the lowermost card in the stack 40 as shown in FIGURE 2.

The forward plate 50 is formed with a pair of grooves 79, one of which is shown in FIGURE 2, which have fitted therein a pair of stop members 80. The stop mem- -bers 80 have threaded pins 81 fixed thereto which extend through enlarged openings in the plate 50 and a lock nut 82 is threaded thereon to retain said stop members in the desired vertical position. The lower portion of the members 80 are formed with sharp edges and are spaced above the transverse plate 62 an amount to allow only a single card to be fed therebetween at one time. The clearance, for example, between the stop members 80 and the plate 62 may ybe on the order of .010-.012 inch to allow only one card, having a thickness of around .007 inch, to be fed forwardly at a time.

The feeding mechanism for the magazine M comprises a primary driving means including a pair of rollers 83 and 84, which may also take the form of a single cylindrical roll, having a covering on the outer periphery of material of high frictional value such as rubber. These rollers 83 and 84 are secured to a rotatable transverse shaft 85 suitably bearinged in one end of a pair of L-shaped plates S6 and87. The plates 86 and 87 are swingably mounted v at their opposite ends on a transverse shaft 88. A transverse plate 89 is fixed by suitable means such as weldments to the under side of the plates 86 and S7 causing the same to swing in unison. An angle bar 90 is secured to the plate S9 and is provided with a central opening in the depending flange thereof to receive one end of a rod 91 therethrough. The rod 91 carries a pair of helical springs 92 and 93 positioned on either side of said bar 90, and is pivotally connected at the opposite end to an armature of a card feed solenoid 94. The solenoid 94 is xedly mounted to the bottom plate 47 of the magazine M and energization Iand de-energization thereof imparts reciprocatory movement to the link 91 to swing the plates 86 and 87 about the shaft 88 to raise and lower the rollers 83 and 84. In the raised position the rollers 83 and 84 engage the lowermost card 40 in the magazine driving it forwardly along the upper surface of the plate 62 beneath the step 80. The plate 62 and the plate 58 are formed with slots permitting the aforementioned upward swinging movement of the rollers 83 and 84 such that they may engage the lowermost cards.

The shaft 88 is bearinged along the extent thereof in a pair of upright brackets 96 and 97 fixed to the forward side of the plate 50 on each side of an opening therein g" through which the card passes. The brackets 96 and 97 aligned relation with respect to the shaft 88. The shafts 88 and 98 carry secondary cylindrical feed rollers 99 (only the roller 99 on shaft 98 is clearly shown in FIGURE l) formed of molded friction material such as rubber, which have enlarged card engaging end portions. The rollers 99 serve to drive a card out of the magazine after it is fed forwardly 'by the main feed rollers 83 and 84.

The several rollers 83, 84 and 99 are driven from a motor 100 mounted on the support plate 25. The motor may be provided with a suitable reduction gear train and a driven shaft 101 extends therefrom upon which is secured a drive pulley 102. A belt 103 entrained around the pulley 102 drives a second timing pulley 104 fixed to the shaft 98. The shaft 98 and the shaft 88 have intermeshing gears 105 fixed on one end thereof to simultaneously drive the shaft 88 from the driven shaft 98. Shaft 88 has a pulley 106 secured thereto and a second belt 107 entrained thereon drives a timing pulley 108 fixed to the shaft 85.

This driving mechanism will feed a card 40 from the magazine when the primary feed rollers 83 and 84 are raised upward by the solenoid 94 into engagement with the lowermost card. As the card is fed to the right, as viewed in FIGURE 2, the rollers 99 will pick up the card and feed it therebetween. As the card is fed between the rollers 99, the end of said card will strike an arm 110 which extends downwardly over the rollers 99 from a micro-switch 111. This micro-switch 111 controls an is shown in the drawing, and which has a pair of upstanding parallel spaced plates 117 mounted thereon to position a card 40. The support plate 25 is provided with additional card feeding means (not shown) which serve to feed the card onto the table 26 into a predetermined position after being fed part way by the secondary card feed rollers 99. As the card 40 reaches its predetermined position the motor is de-energized.

While the present invention has been described land illustrated, it will be appreciated that various changes may be made in the design and arrangement of the parts of the illustrated embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and that all such changes and modifications are contemplated as may come within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A mechanism for feeding thin flexible sheets one by one from a stack of such sheets comprising a main supporting structure having an inclined portion and a horizontally disposed portion positioned adjacent the Ylower extremity of said inclined portion, means for forcing a stack of thin flexible sheets into alignment with said structure, advancing means adapted to engage the under side of a lowermost sheet of a stack of such sheets to feed said sheet across said horizontally disposed portion, stop means adjustably positioned in spaced relation above said horizontally disposed portion for restricting movement of all but a single sheet in the direction of feed, sheet withdrawing means for withdrawing a said lowermost sheet, and means for moving said advancing means toward and away from engaging relation with respect to a lowermost sheet.

2. A mechanism as in claim 1 in which said advancing means includes a driven roller.

3. A mechanism for feeding thin flexible sheets one by one from a stack of such sheets, said mechanism comprising a fixed supporting 'base having an inclined plate portion and a horizontally disposed plate portion which is positioned in adjacent spaced relation to the lower extremity of said inclined portion, said horizontal plate portion being adapted to engage and support the leading end of the sheets of a said stack across the full 'width of said sheets, means for forcing a stack of such sheets into alignment with said rbase, stop means positioned in spaced relation above said horizontally disposed plate portion for restricting movement of all but a single sheet in the direction of feed, and advancing means engageable with a lowermost sheet of a said stack between said inclined plate portion and said horizontally disposed plate portion for advancing a said lowermost sheet of a said stack across said horizontal plate portion in the direction of feed.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,159,498 11/1915 Iagenberg 271-35 1,361,986 12/1920 Halvorsen 271--23 1,911,236 5/1933 Muchmore 271-35 1,986,800 1/1935 Elliott 271-41 X 2,639,916 '5/1953 Anness 271-41 X M. HENSON WOOD, IR., Primary Examiner.

W. F. MCCARTHY, A. N. KNOWLES,

, Assistant Examiners. 

1. A MECHANISM FOR FEEDING THIN FLEXIBLE SHEETS ONE BY ONE FROM A STACK OF SUCH SHEETS COMPRISING A MAIN SUPPORTING STRUCTURE HAVING AN INCLINED PORTION AND A HORIZONTALLY DISPOSED PORTION POSITIONED ADJACENT THE LOWER EXTREMITY OF SAID INCLINED PORTION, MEANS FOR FORCING A STACK OF THIN FLEXIBLE SHEETS INTO ALIGNMENT WITH SAID STRUCTURE, ADVANCING MEANS ADAPTED TO ENGAGE THE UNDER SIDE OF A LOWERMOST SHEET OF A STACK OF SUCH SHEETS TO FEED SAID SHEET ACROSS SAID HORIZONTALLY DISPOSED PORTION, STOP MEANS ADJUSTABLY POSITIONED IN SPACED RELATION ABOVE SAID HORIZONTALLY DISPOSED PORTION FOR RESTRICTING MOVEMENT OF ALL BUT A SINGLE SHEET IN THE DIRECTION OF FEED, SHEET WITHDRAWING MEANS FOR WITHDRAWING A SAID LOWERMOST SHEET, AND MEANS FOR MOVING SAID ADVANCING MEANS TOWARD AND AWAY FROM ENGAGING RELATION WITH RESPECT TO A LOWERMOST SHEET. 